Delphobia

Product Notes

(an excerpt from 'The Ench Brothers, an odd & obscure tale of the Midwest's most famous unknown band' by J. Jacobsen The Modern Period; a synopsis A CD titled Delphobia was released in 2005 by two claimants to the Ench legacy. They are: Perry Emge aka 'Downshift' or 'Shifty' Ench and Alphonse Caspar Mabuse (PhD claimed but unconfirmed) aka 'Professor' Ench. . ... Perry Emge appears to have the oldest claim. He was from the same neighborhood as Viktor & Bratislav (from 'the Orgins' chapter): 'he had a car.In the early 1970's gigs he would transport and help Viktor with his drumset.When Viktor's tirades became almost de rigeur at gigs, Emge would slip on to his abandoned drum stool and help the band support the sermon until Viktor returned. Mabuse (or just 'Doc') appeared shortly afterward, first as a camp follower, and later, on stage playing mostly keyboards and effects devices.' ... If these fellows are who they claim to be then they have the most genuine claim to roots in the bizarre exploits of the band and it's strange and spectacular demise in 1979. ... And it is fair to say that that event persuaded Perry and the Professor to assiduously eschew the path that the Ench Bros. Had blazed in the 60's and 70's. But bands were in their blood . The pair pursued separate projects throughout most of the 80's but in hindsight, it is clear that they both had a common aim.Both sought to distance themselves from what they each perceived as the fundamental flaw in the original Ench Bros. 'formula'. Perry pursued this aim by building credible credentials as a professional in the music industry.He took classes at Berklee Music College in Boston . He completed a degree in Fine Arts at University of Missouri (KC) and earned certification as a recording engineer in Full Sail Recording Studio's education program. With newly acquired chops on keyboard and guitar he toured with power-pop and new wave bands. During this period of self-reinvention, he produced and engineered several albums. He even landed a job at The Record Plant in San Francisco. In the late 80's Perry returned to St. Louis with enough of a grubstake to design, build , and operate a commercial recording studio of his own. The professor sought to exorcise the Enchness from his musical soul by pursuing 'serious' music.He studied classical composition and academic electronic music at University of North Texas, St. Louis University and University of Illinois at Champaign- Urbana.He was nominated to the board of the St. Louis New Music Circle where he served for more than a decade, including a term as president. He was , however, unable to extract himself completely from the world of smoky bars. But this time around, he opted for the smarmy obscurity and elitism of modern jazz. Technology advances finally brought synthesizers within his financial reach and he had also acquired sufficient proficiency on bass to get as much work as he wanted. He played as a regular sideman with Tory Z Starbuck, and co-founded the neXt rAdio project with him. He even went as far as to try to expunge his ethnicity by changing his name to 'Mike Murphy' simply because it was easy to pronounce. ... Unbeknownst to 'doc', Tory had also recently met and jammed with Perry Emge at his studio, where Tory worked occasional odd-jobs to bolster his perennially meager income. ... Tory reports that the first rehearsal attended by both doc and Perry was like a scene in a Sammuel Beckett play. According to the scant local arts-press coverage, the gigs were even more oblique. To further muddy the water, a significantly matured but no less outrageous Tom (Kobuku-san Ench) Sutter was recruited for this ensemble shortly after Perry became involved. ... Little is documented (or admitted to) about the process by which Perry and doc reconciled themselves to their reinvented personae and to their shared questionable past. ... The new generation of Ench material has also involved the aforementioned Tom Sutter (in an improvisational DJ/Dance project called 'DJ Nucleon) and Rebecca Ryan a longtime friend and collaborator with Perry. ... If you accept Perry Emge and dr. Mabuse's somewhat tenuous claim to the artistic legacy of the Ench Brothers Band then they -do- exist - at least as much as one could say Herman's Hermits, The Four Tops or Steppenwolf still exist.

Credits

(an excerpt from 'The Ench Brothers, an odd & obscure tale of the Midwest's most famous unknown band' by J. Jacobsen The Modern Period; a synopsis A CD titled Delphobia was released in 2005 by two claimants to the Ench legacy. They are: Perry Emge aka 'Downshift' or 'Shifty' Ench and Alphonse Caspar Mabuse (PhD claimed but unconfirmed) aka 'Professor' Ench. . ... Perry Emge appears to have the oldest claim. He was from the same neighborhood as Viktor & Bratislav (from 'the Orgins' chapter): 'he had a car.In the early 1970's gigs he would transport and help Viktor with his drumset.When Viktor's tirades became almost de rigeur at gigs, Emge would slip on to his abandoned drum stool and help the band support the sermon until Viktor returned. Mabuse (or just 'Doc') appeared shortly afterward, first as a camp follower, and later, on stage playing mostly keyboards and effects devices.' ... If these fellows are who they claim to be then they have the most genuine claim to roots in the bizarre exploits of the band and it's strange and spectacular demise in 1979. ... And it is fair to say that that event persuaded Perry and the Professor to assiduously eschew the path that the Ench Bros. Had blazed in the 60's and 70's. But bands were in their blood . The pair pursued separate projects throughout most of the 80's but in hindsight, it is clear that they both had a common aim.Both sought to distance themselves from what they each perceived as the fundamental flaw in the original Ench Bros. 'formula'. Perry pursued this aim by building credible credentials as a professional in the music industry.He took classes at Berklee Music College in Boston . He completed a degree in Fine Arts at University of Missouri (KC) and earned certification as a recording engineer in Full Sail Recording Studio's education program. With newly acquired chops on keyboard and guitar he toured with power-pop and new wave bands. During this period of self-reinvention, he produced and engineered several albums. He even landed a job at The Record Plant in San Francisco. In the late 80's Perry returned to St. Louis with enough of a grubstake to design, build , and operate a commercial recording studio of his own. The professor sought to exorcise the Enchness from his musical soul by pursuing 'serious' music.He studied classical composition and academic electronic music at University of North Texas, St. Louis University and University of Illinois at Champaign- Urbana.He was nominated to the board of the St. Louis New Music Circle where he served for more than a decade, including a term as president. He was , however, unable to extract himself completely from the world of smoky bars. But this time around, he opted for the smarmy obscurity and elitism of modern jazz. Technology advances finally brought synthesizers within his financial reach and he had also acquired sufficient proficiency on bass to get as much work as he wanted. He played as a regular sideman with Tory Z Starbuck, and co-founded the neXt rAdio project with him. He even went as far as to try to expunge his ethnicity by changing his name to 'Mike Murphy' simply because it was easy to pronounce. ... Unbeknownst to 'doc', Tory had also recently met and jammed with Perry Emge at his studio, where Tory worked occasional odd-jobs to bolster his perennially meager income. ... Tory reports that the first rehearsal attended by both doc and Perry was like a scene in a Sammuel Beckett play. According to the scant local arts-press coverage, the gigs were even more oblique. To further muddy the water, a significantly matured but no less outrageous Tom (Kobuku-san Ench) Sutter was recruited for this ensemble shortly after Perry became involved. ... Little is documented (or admitted to) about the process by which Perry and doc reconciled themselves to their reinvented personae and to their shared questionable past. ... The new generation of Ench material has also involved the aforementioned Tom Sutter (in an improvisational DJ/Dance project called 'DJ Nucleon) and Rebecca Ryan a longtime friend and collaborator with Perry. ... If you accept Perry Emge and dr. Mabuse's somewhat tenuous claim to the artistic legacy of the Ench Brothers Band then they -do- exist - at least as much as one could say Herman's Hermits, The Four Tops or Steppenwolf still exist.